For this edition of Get to Know, we are pleased to introduce Nick Ekdahl, CPD, GPD, a member of ASPE’s Los Angeles Chapter.
ASPE: What book do you recommend everyone should read?
Nick: A Short History of Nearly Everything, by Bill Bryson. It is a great introduction to a wide range of topics that will blow your mind. You will want to read the rest of Bryson’s books after reading this one.
ASPE: What are your hobbies outside of work?
Nick: Pottery, fishing, golfing, cooking, reading, and world travel.
ASPE: What is your favorite childhood memory?
Nick: Spending Saturday at Moonlight Beach, Cardiff-By-the-Sea with my brother and mother. Body surfing, tide-pooling, and hunting sand crabs, and then eating lunch at the A&W drive-in on the way home. We had root beer floats, hot dogs, cheeseburgers, and fries. Feeling itchy from sandy, wet trunks, and then the stink of turpentine as my father used it to wipe the tar off our feet when we got home. There are other memories, but none as vivid as this because we did this almost every weekend in the summer for several years.
ASPE: What is your proudest accomplishment?
Nick: Completing the three semesters of the Plumbing Systems Design program at UCLA Extension on Wednesday nights. Then studying to take the CPD test and passing it. I made some great friends along the way.
ASPE: What is your favorite holiday and why?
Nick: Thanksgiving. It is a time for family and friends to gather and be thankful for life and the wonderful things it has to offer, catching up with each other and sharing a great home-cooked meal.
ASPE: Who is your hero?
Nick: Neil Armstrong.
ASPE: What did you want to be when you were a child?
Nick: An astronaut.
ASPE: What’s your favorite type of foreign food?
Nick: Mexican.
